Busted Knuckle Garage - This Guy's Garage

Every once in a while, we run across a guy's shop with a story that just pulls you in. During a blitz of emails with Warren Tracey, who owns the Busted Knuckle Garage (BustedKnuckleGarage.com), we asked if he knew anyone with a cool shop. Warren sent us this photo, and we then spent about an hour on the telephone with the shop's owner, Scott Dapron. When we mentioned that we wanted to come out to shoot some additional photos of Busted Knuckle Garage, he said, I don't wax, and I don't dust. This is a greasy, dirty old shop, so if you are looking for billet parts, I don't have any!" At that point, we knew we'd get along just fine. Most interesting about Scott's history is his prior employment with Mickey Thompson between 1967 and 1971, when Mickey attacked Bonneville with red, blue, and yellow Mustangs in late 1967. Among Scott's treasures is a Mickey Thompson Funny Car body hanging from the rafters. But Ford drag-race stuff is not his only obsession. "I have trouble with focus," Scott says. His shop is reinforced by storage racks filled with go-karts, steam trains, and multiple cars. Among the significant automotive treats are several A/FX and B/FX cars under the roof of his 10,000-square-foot building, including a '63 426 Max Wedge drag-race car built by Blair's Speed Shop in Pasadena, California. Scott also has a couple of lightweight 427 Galaxies built by Ford to do battle on the dragstrips of America. In our brief conversation with Scott, it became clear he is one of the timekeepers of a generation. Best of all, he was willing to give us a tour of Busted Knuckle Garage to share all with you. Think of this photo as a tease. We're packing our bags for Busted Knuckle Garage right now.

"That is Engine Room B. The other engine room has a Boss Nine, Cammers, and other stuff." Scott Dapron

1 Look closely and you'll see that the Hilborn-stacked injected engine in the back isn't very a big-block Ford. Scott says it's a very early 396. he didnt elaborate on its history. Could it be from a 60's Chevy-powered FXer?

2 There are headers hanging from the rafters and lord knows what else on the shelves that we can't see.

3 Scott says some of these T-shirts are reminders of when he used to work for Mickey Thompson. the newer shirts were collected at various events he has attended.

4 Scott restored old magnesium wheels, which may account for the rack of cast wheels sitting on the upper rack above what looks to be cordwood-stacked piles of manual transmissions. If scott gave tours, he'd probably require Ford guys to carry drool cups.

5 If you are into FE Fords, you could probably spend a week in this room alone, going over all these engines, Scott says at various times there have been dozens of 427 engines in this room. "this is the 'builder' room" he says.

6 Ford produced a 3x2-barrel, Tri-power induction system for the 406 back in 1963, and this looks like it could be one of those packages.

7 The Ford FE engine in the foreground is topped by what appears to be a 427 hi-Riser intake and a pair of Hollet carburetors. Scoot says there's a lot of hype around top oilers versus side oilers and that the side oilers were developed merely to feed the hydraulic lifters that came later